Midair Bomb Attempt Fails

This is a discussion on Midair Bomb Attempt Fails within the Law Enforcement, Military & Homeland Security Discussion forums, part of the Related Topics category; Don't fear, this can't happen again. TSA has just initiated another rule:
"New rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration
also limit on-board activities ...

Don't fear, this can't happen again. TSA has just initiated another rule:
"New rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration
also limit on-board activities by customers and crew in U.S. airspace
that may adversely impact on-board service. Among other things, during
the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be
allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or
other items on their laps."

Don't fear, this can't happen again. TSA has just initiated another rule:
"New rules imposed by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration
also limit on-board activities by customers and crew in U.S. airspace
that may adversely impact on-board service. Among other things, during
the final hour of flight customers must remain seated, will not be
allowed to access carry-on baggage, or have personal belongings or
other items on their laps."

Everybody feel safe now?

What we really need is a rule against bombs in your pants. Then I would feel safe.

bomb attempt fails

I've been starring at this thread for 90 minutes trying to think of a good reply without using anything obscene or vulgar. This incident should never have happened. Political correctness must go before we lose another airliner full of people.

Being of Italian origin, I would always get checked by screeners who thought that I was Cuban back in the 1960s when hijackers wanted to take planes. I did not mind as it made us all safe. But now that time is spent searching old ladies, it is time to go back to the old ways. If we were invaded by little green martians they would still check the little old Norwegian ladies.

Fox has confirmed that U.S. Intel knew about the BG, but he wasn't on a no-fly list.

Problem being that there are three lists: One list has about 4,000 names, another list has about 40,000 names and the third list has over 400,000 names. The perp was on the third list. Two federal "intelligence" agencies approved the passenger list that the Dutch gave the US.

The father of this perp told the US embassy that his son probably had terrorist connections: Still nothing was done to cancel his multiple entry visa.

It is because of bad luck that explosions did not take place on two airliners. How long will this streak of bad luck continue? Meanwhile the TSA will continue to hassle kids and old women.

This just in.............Is this an attempt at "desensitizing".......?

WASHINGTON -- Two days after a Nigerian man tried to light an explosive onboard an Northwest Airlines flight as it was landing in Detroit, the same flight was met by emergency vehicles after a "disruptive passenger" onboard alarmed the flight crew, according to the Transportation Safety Administration.

In a statement, the TSA said the plane was met by law enforcement officials upon landing and the passenger, who was not immediately identified, was taken into custody. The TSA said the move was taken "out of an abundance of caution."

Bill Burton, the White House spokesman, said President Barack Obama was notified of the incident shortly after 9 a.m. in Hawaii, where he is vacationing, by members of his national security team.

"The president stressed the importance of maintaining heightened security measures for all air travel and gave instructions to set up another secure teleconference briefing as soon as possible," Mr. Burton said.

WASHINGTON – A law enforcement official says the man removed from a Sunday flight to Detroit posed no security risk to the plane.

The official says the passenger was taken into custody after becoming verbally disruptive on landing. Subsequent interviews by investigators determined he was a businessman who became ill during the flight.

The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and therefore spoke on condition of anonymity.

The incident occurred on board the same Northwest Airlines flight that was attacked on Christmas Day. The pilot of the Sunday flight requested emergency assistance upon arrival.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

DETROIT (AP) — A passenger onboard the same Northwest Airlines flight that was attacked on Christmas Day was taken into custody in Detroit on Sunday after becoming verbally disruptive upon landing, officials said.

A law enforcement official said the man was Nigerian and had locked himself in the airliner's bathroom. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Delta Air Lines spokeswoman Susan Elliott said crew members requested that security remove the man from Flight 253 after he became disruptive. The remaining 255 passengers got off safely, she said.

Airport spokesman Scott Wintner said it was the same flight on which a man tried to set off an explosive on Christmas Day.

"The pilot requested emergency assistance upon arrival," he said.

Security and airline personnel are on edge since the attempted terror attack on Christmas Day, and the law enforcement official said that lesser incidents had been reported on other flights arriving in Detroit, but the incident with the Nigerian man had sparked the most concern.

UPDATE for DETAIL!

A member of the online political forum (Latest Articles) where I hang my hat was ON the plane. Here is that account.

FReeper Beag found this and posted it on a thread in FR that has subsequently been locked...

“Posted by pug"
December 26, 2009, 5:47AM
I was on this flight today and am thankful to be alive. My wife and I were returning from an African safari and had this connecting flight through Amsterdam. I sat in row 27, which was 7 rows behind the terrorist. I got to see the whole thing take place and it was very scary. Thanks to a few quick acting people I am still alive today. For those of you talking about airline security in this thread, I was next to the terrorist when he checked in at the Amsterdam airport early on Christmas. My wife and I were playing cards directly in front of the check in counter. This is what I saw (and I relayed this to the FBI when we were held in customs): An Indian man in a nicely dressed suit around age 50 approached the check in counter with the terrorist and said “This man needs to get on this flight and he has no passport.” The two of them were an odd pair as the terrorist is a short, black man that looked like he was very poor and looks around age 17(Although I think he is 23 he doesn’t look it). It did not cross my mind that they were terrorists, only that the two looked weird together. The ticket taker said “you can’t board without a passport”. The Indian man then replied, “He is from Sudan, we do this all the time”. I can only take from this to mean that it is difficult to get passports from Sudan and this was some sort of sympathy ploy. The ticket taker then said “You will have to talk to my manager”, and sent the two down a hallway. I never saw the Indian man again as he wasn’t on the flight. It was also weird that the terrorist never said a word in this exchange. Anyway, somehow, the terrorist still made it onto the plane. I am not sure if it was a bribe or just sympathy from the security manager.

FBI also arrested a different Indian man while we were held in customs after a bomb sniffing dog detected a bomb in his carry on bag and he was searched after we landed. This was later confirmed while we were in customs when an FBI agent said to us “You are being moved to another area because this area is not safe. Read between the lines. Some of you saw what just happened.”(The arrest of the other Indian man). I am not sure why this hasn’t made it into any news story, but I stood about 15-20 feet away from the other Indian man when he was cuffed and arrested after his search.
What also didn’t make the news is that we were held on the plane for 20 minutes AFTER IT LANDED!. A bomb could have gone off then. This wasn’t too smart of security to not let us off the plane immediately.

You can see what time I am writing this as I am having a hard time sleeping tonight. Just thought some of you would like to know what I saw, Merry Christmas.”

WASHINGTON – A man who was "acting belligerently" on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight Sunday is not a terror threat and only became disruptive because he had fallen ill and refused to leave the aircraft's bathroom, according to a U.S. official.

"My wife and I were playing cards directly in front of the check in counter. This is what I saw (and I relayed this to the FBI when we were held in customs): An Indian man in a nicely dressed suit around age 50 approached the check in counter with the terrorist and said “This man needs to get on this flight and he has no passport.”

Anyone who has experience flying internationally knows that passport issues are sorted out long before someone gets to the boarding area and getting there requires a passport.

Standard procedure: 1) At the check-in counter, passengers must present a passport. I have no idea what happens if someone shows up and claims they lost theirs, but I doubt a boarding pass can be issued without intervention by much higher authority than a gate agent. Possibly the Indian fellow was such an official.

2) After receiving your boarding pass, you go through some variation or another of "passport control" -- a point manned by government officials not airline employees-- where the country's officials stamp your passport to show that you have departed.

Again, I doubt anyone could get past that point to the boarding gate sans passport. There would have to be at least some form of government documentation acceptable to the folks at passport control.

3) Depending on the airport, step 2 takes place either before or after the equivalent of TSA screening. No passport, no passing through. International passengers are screened differently than domestic. At Schiphol, on my trip through there, passport control came before security screening, but at most other places I've been to you go through passport control before security screening.

4) You don't get on a plane without a passport because when you arrive at your destination you will be detained and/or sent back. You will not be admitted. Cost of flying you back is born by the airline if the passenger doesn't have the bucks. So, airlines are careful to never let anyone board without a valid passport.

Now, I don't doubt that there are procedures unknown to me to help travelers when the inevitable lost passport problem pops up. But, I think that gets solved well away from the boarding gate or even the check-in counter.

Pug's story doesn't sound real to me, unless the "Indian" in a suit was a government official whose job it is to sort these kinds of problems out. And, he would have had to be able to issue documents acceptable to Schiphol's passport control and to our ICE on arrival here.

The story implies the man was sneaked onto the flight; and that doesn't make sense.

1. Why did the State Department fail? Why didn't they revoke the jihadist's visa? Why hasn't Hillary Clinton made a statement in regard to the visa problem? The State Department granted visas to the hijackers on 9/11. You would think DOS would have learned a valuable lesson after 9/11.

2. Why hasn't obama addressed the American citizens about this incident? Gibbs said the White House is "monitoring the situation". That's not enough. This is a very grave situation. obama should be the one addressing the American citizens and reassuring us. He should be telling us that the lack of communication will be remedied. President Bush would have.

3. Apparently the islamo-fascists are not liking us any better because obama decided to close down Gitmo. I think an apology is in order from this administration.

4. obama and napolitano have yet to call the Ft. Hood murders a terrorist attack. This Delta flight makes the 2nd attack since obama took office. What's going on here? Are they purposely lowering security standards in hopes that an attack will happen? And, if so, then why?